I belong to dreams and stories in my mind

[disclaimer: I have dropped off the face of the earth, I know it. It started with frequent adventures at 1 in the morning, then finals, now home... where I eat tacos and ice cream and lay out with my family instead of blog. judge me, but it's secretly so fun. not secretly if i share it on the internet like this, but whatever. and I started this post about a month ago, and just finished. how people EVER write books is beyond me- i can't finish a dang blog post]

This post is dedicated to Brooke. 
Homegirl is this feisty ball of wonderful,
and that is really a pretty solid overall description.

I remember when I left for college, my mom asked,
"what am I gonna do without you?"
you would think oh... so sweet! but ehhhh mostly it was kind of like a cry for help
The question had nothing to do with my relationship with my mom, we made it just fine when I left.
[or better.. did any of you get closer to your mom when you left for college? I think maybe it's universal...]
It was about my relationship with Brooke.
You see, with lots of personality and sense of humor comes a little...feisty.
I somehow was just the right amount of ridiculous
to get littleone out of those funks that came with the fiesty.
And thus we bonded- me and all my ridiculousness, and Brooke and her sass.

When I was about to leave for college, [and by about... I mean months and months in advance]
and babygirl realized I would not live at home anymore, she moved in.
And by moved in, she slept in my bed every single night for probably 8 months.
When I was out for the night, she would leave notes on my pillow...
and often try to spoon me upon my arrival home.
When I was in for the night,
she would never complain about the lights being on when I needed to be up,
she just cuddled up and went to bed there anyways.

So that's about us. Pretty simply put- we love each other. She's dang cool.
When I came home a few times back, both Jess and I were shocked.
Brooke, who is our baby, was no longer a baby.
She had rounded some kind of invisible corner from little girl to young woman.
Ahhhhghghh. what?!
Little did I know there was more where that came from.
I got asked if she was my little sister the other day
[what?! I have 8 years on her! now I know how it feels, jess...]
aka she is lookin' old these days.
Which I guess kind of makes sense, because she graduated from 8th grade a few weeks back!
Which is the point of this post..... which I haven't gotten to until now.

So, without further ado, I will let you look at pictures...
which will subsequently prove my point about her looking so old.






[lookin like a babe these days, right?]

To my baby girl,
high school is wonderful.
It's a time in life when you honestly can do anything and everything...
and all at the same time.
As with most things in life, it will be what you make it.
And you will get out of it what you put in.
Be kind and be genuine....people will love you as they always have.
If girls pretend like they don't, just be a little sad for them.
For they have sorely missed out on having a friend like you.
But mostly, know there is a big sister in Utah who loves you more than most.
Thanks for being my friend, and loving me unconditionally, sweet girl.
You're gonna be great.

-Tay